MovieChat Forums > Cannonball Run II (1984) Discussion > The Chairman of the Board, the Man himse...

The Chairman of the Board, the Man himself...in a Dodge Daytona??

posted 14 years ago by jnoble11
9 replies | jump to latest

Everytime I see this movie it strikes me as odd that a multi-millionare world famous super-powerful man like Frank Sinatra would be OK with being put in a cheap (at least compared to most of the other super sports cars in this film) Dodge Daytona.
Not only that, but he blows the doors off a Corvette with it (not likely in real life even with the relativly tame '84 C4 Vettes)

Come on, it's Sinatra....He couldn't have a Porsche or something classier?

[–] MikeHunt1075 13 years ago

I don't think it would make the slightest difference if he used a rocket car... even if he did manage to get to the finish line first, he didn't punch in at the start of the race, therefor couldn't win it anyway.

[–] JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies 11 years ago

It's a comedy. It's funny that he's driving that car--and beating the Corvette. It wouldn't be funny to see him driving something you'd expect to see Sinatra driving.

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[–] laurelataylor 11 years ago

For me, it was great just to see Frank Sinatra in the movie. His scenes with Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr. were really cute and funny. It was a treat to see him, Dean, and Sammy in another movie together.

[–] jeff82072 10 years ago

I am watching it now and noticed another interesting thing. When Sammy and Dean as Fenderbaum and Blake run JJ and Victor off the road in the Vette it is the Dodge not the Vette that dos the stunt.

[–] KingOfUtah 10 years ago

This was the 80's. That's a Shelby Daytona. I'm a Vette guy all day, but that Daytona would have swallowed up that Vette and shat it whole. Shelby worked with a few Dodge models back then, including the 4 door Omni, the Daytona, and the fake Charger. The Daytona had the best weight distribution of them all, and was the fastest thing Dodge had on the market at the time. The Vette in this film was somewhere around 200 hp, with no turbo, and a gear box made to sip gas. Turbo vs a stripped down V8 back then was a walk away. Not even a race.
And if I was Frank, and wanted a new, practical car at that time, something with Shelby's name on it would really look appealing to me.

Signed, Me.

[–] ELashes 9 years ago

OK, that makes sense. I just watched this movie and the Daytona bugged me just like it did the OP, but your explanation puts it into context.

[–] bilyidol 9 years ago

Those points are true, but the Daytona was never a popular car. Sinatra driving not only in a Daytona but pulling on Dean and Sam in their Ferrari is just one of the many reasons this movie failed.

Frank was very friendly with Chrysler and '84 was the debut for the Daytona so he gets a little dough for a days work in some picture, gets to have some yuks with Dean & Sam and at the same time help his ol' friend Lee sell some of his fancy new sports cars of the future.

After all, Frank has it his way. 🍸

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_(automobile)#Frank_Sinatra_Edition

[–] KingOfUtah 9 years ago

And yes, Frank and Lee were good buddies, so that helped out too.

Signed, Me.

[–] willywonkasrevenge 9 years ago

Those Daytonas showed up in a lot of movies around that time. I'm guessing Dodge had a big marketing budget to spend on promoting it.

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